Apple iOS 10.2.1 Has A Nasty Surprise

The release of iOS 10.2.1 brings some important fixes that make it an essential upgrade. The flipside, however, is it is still going to (quite rightly) anger a lot of iPhone owners…

‘Great Features’ and ‘Nasty Surprises’ are my regular columns investigating operating system updates for the best features / biggest problems hidden behind the headlines.

In short:
Apple continues to ignore the infamous 30% battery bug. The problem - which can affect every iOS 10 compatible iPhone with the exception of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus - causes handsets to switch off around the 30% mark.

Apple iOS 10.2.1. Image credit: Amit Chowdhry

I exclusively reported this problem back in November and it has since snowballed from a 124 page thread on Apple’s Support Communities website and complaints by ex-Apple executive Tony ‘Father of the iPod’ Fadell to the involvement of the Chinese government which accused Apple failing to “meet basic consumer needs for normal wireless communication” after “many consumers” reported the problem.

Apple promised to look into it and included a battery diagnostics tool with the release of iOS 10.2, but the update itself actually made the 30% bug even worse. So all hopes hung on iOS 10.2.1 with six weeks of testing and four betas to finally get to the bottom of the problem.

Throughout the testing of iOS 10.2.1 Apple declined to share any information about what the update contained, something that became a farce. And know we know why because there is no attempt to fix the 30% bug in iOS 10.2.1. Affected users began messaging me about this in angry emails and tweets shortly after the release yesterday:

Apple's failure to deal with the 30% Bug in iOS 10.2.1 is frustrating and angering affected users. Image credit: Twitter

So what should we expect?

Well iOS 10.3 is already in testing but, as it stands, Apple has yet to even admit the problem extends beyond the iPhone 6S for which the company has opened a limited battery replacement service. And, as we all know, you can’t fix a problem until you first admit you have a problem.

As such it remains unclear whether the 30% bug is even on the radar for Apple with iOS 10.3 - a release which is primarily focused on the introduction of new features, not bug fixes like iOS 10.2.1. Furthermore with testing likely to last 4-6 weeks, affected users will again have to wait it out and hope this is the one which finally brings a cure.

Ultimately what Apple needs to do at this point is speak up. Either it plans to fix this bug or it doesn’t exist. If it is the former then users can wait it out, but if it is the latter at least there’s clarity and affected users can either decide to buy a new iPhone or switch brands.